Knee joints – structure, examinations, the most common diseases. Diet and exercises for the knee joints

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The knee joints are the largest and most complex joints in the human body. Despite the fact that they are functionally adapted to carry significant loads (due to the upright posture by humans), we often exceed their natural capabilities, which is manifested by pain. Constantly increasing life expectancy, obesity, hard physical work, lifting heavy loads, practicing injurious sports such as skiing, are factors predisposing to the development of various diseases of the knee joints.

Knee joint – construction

The knee joints are formed by the articular surfaces of three bones: the femoral, tibial and patella. These surfaces are covered with smooth hyaline cartilage, which is constantly washed by the synovial fluid that reduces friction.

The bone elements of the joint are connected with each other by the ligament apparatus and muscles. In the knee joint, it consists of two collateral ligaments: tibial and fibula, the ligament and the patellas, as well as the arched and oblique popliteal ligaments outside the joint, and two cruciate ligaments: anterior and posterior, and meniscal ligaments inside the joint cavity.

A unique element of the knee joint are two menisci: lateral and medial, which slide into the joint space between the femur and tibia on both sides, adjusting their articular surfaces to each other. Meniscus are crescent-shaped and horseshoe-shaped collagen structures that “grow” from the joint capsule and play an important role in the mechanics of the knee joint, transferring loads from the joint surfaces and absorbing shock.

The knee joint cavity is encased in a double-layered joint capsule. On the outside, there is a durable fibrous layer, reinforced with external ligaments of the knee, and on the inside, a more delicate layer of the synovium, creating numerous folds, recesses and synovial bursae. This membrane produces the aforementioned synovial fluid (goo), which reduces friction between all parts of the joint, and nourishes the joint cartilage.

The knee joints are hinge joints, that is, they enable, above all, bending and straightening movements. However, in incomplete flexion, rotational movements can also be made to a small extent.

Joints allow movement, so it is worth taking care of them properly. At Medonet Market you can now buy natural dietary supplements for the joints.

Read also: Knee pain

Knee joint – the most common diseases

Many knee problems are the result of the aging process and the constant wear and tear of the knee joint (such as arthritis). Other problems with the knee joint are the result of an injury or sudden movement that strains the knee.

Knee joint and meniscus damage

A knee injury can damage the menisci (connective tissue pads that act as shock absorbers and also increase stability). Injury to the meniscus can often occur with sprains. Treatment may include wearing a brace while exercising to protect the knee joint from further injury. Surgery may be required to repair the damage.

Knee joint and sprain or strain of knee ligaments and / or muscles

A dislocated or strained ligament or knee muscle is usually caused by a blow to the knee or a sudden twist of the knee. Symptoms often include pain, swelling, and difficulty walking.

See also: When walking hurts

Knee joint and arthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis that affects the knee joint. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative process in which the cartilage of a joint gradually wears down. It often affects middle-aged and elderly people. Osteoarthritis can be caused by overloading a joint, such as repeated injuries or being overweight. Rheumatoid arthritis can also affect the knee joint, causing the joint to become inflamed and destroying the cartilage of the knee. Rheumatoid arthritis often affects people younger than osteoarthritis.

Knee joint and tendinitis

Tendinitis can result from overuse of tendons during certain activities, such as running, jumping, or cycling. Patellar tendinitis is called a jumper’s knee. This is often the case with sports such as basketball, where the force of hitting the ground after you jump tightens the hamstring.

See also: Achilles tendinitis – an injury difficult to heal

Knee joint – diagnostics

In addition to a complete medical history and physical examination, other tests for knee problems may include other tests, including knee imaging tests.

1. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This test uses large magnets, radio waves, and a computer to take detailed pictures of organs and structures in the body; can often identify damage or disease to the surrounding ligament or muscle.
2. X-ray examination. This study uses invisible beams of electromagnetic energy to create images of internal tissues, bones and organs on the film.
3. Computed tomography. This examination uses X-rays and computer technology to take horizontal or axial images (often called slices) of the body. Computed tomography shows detailed images of any part of the body, including bones, muscles, fat, and organs. Computed tomography is more detailed than an X-ray examination.
4. Scintigraphy. A nuclear imaging technique that uses a very small amount of radioactive material that is injected into a patient’s bloodstream for detection by a scanner. This test shows blood flow to the bone and the activity of cells in the bone.
5. Arthroscopy. A minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedure applied to the joint. This procedure uses a small, illuminated optical tube (arthroscope) that is inserted into the joint through a small incision in the joint. Interior images are displayed on the screen. A test used to evaluate any degenerative or arthritic changes in a joint; for the detection of bone diseases and tumors; to determine the cause of bone pain and inflammation.

Knee joint – treatment

Treatment for the knee may vary depending on the problem you are experiencing.

Knee joint – drug treatment

Medications may be prescribed to treat disease or to relieve pain. If we are taking over-the-counter painkillers for knee pain on a regular basis, we should see a doctor for appropriate tests.

Knee joint – injections

In some situations it may be helpful to inject medications directly into the knee joint. The two most common injections are corticosteroids and lubricants. Corticosteroid injections can help with arthritis and other inflammation of the knee joint. Usually they have to be repeated every few months. Lubricants, which are similar to the fluid already in the knee joint, can help with movement and in case of pain.

Knee joint – physical therapy

Sometimes physical therapy sessions to strengthen the muscles around the knee joint will make it more stable and help guarantee the best mechanical movement. Working with a physical therapist can help prevent an injury or further worsen an injury.

Knee joint – surgical treatment

Knee surgery ranges from arthroscopic knee surgery to total knee replacement. Knee arthroscopy is a very common surgical procedure that allows the doctor to look inside the knee joint through several small holes and a special camera. A surgeon can repair multiple injuries and remove small pieces of loose bone or cartilage. It is a common outpatient procedure.

1. Partial Knee Arthroplasty: The surgeon replaces the damaged parts of the knee with plastic and metal parts. Since only part of the knee is replaced, this procedure takes a shorter time to recover than a complete knee replacement.
2. Total Knee Arthroplasty: In this procedure, the knee is replaced with an artificial joint.

Knee joint – other therapies

Acupuncture has shown some pain relief in the knee, especially in patients with osteoarthritis. Glucosamine and chondroitin supplements have shown mixed results in research studies.

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How to keep the knee joint in good condition and free from injuries?

There are two main ways to protect the health of our knee joints

1. Maintaining the health of the knee joint
2. Prevention of injuries of the knee joint

Maintaining the health of the knee joint

The knee joints work hard throughout a person’s life. As you age, your knees wear out normally, which means the cartilage of the knee wears out, the bones begin to rub, and the joint lining is unable to produce enough synovial fluid (lubrication). It’s best to take care of your knees throughout your life, but it’s never too late for new habits.

Some practical tips for keeping your joints healthy include:

1. Lose weight

If you are overweight or obese, your joints are put under additional pressure. Walking creates pressure that is equivalent to up to five times your body weight. The extra weight adds to this load and can induce or accelerate joint degradation.

1. Caring for a good posture

Bad posture is the leading cause of joint pain. The skeleton is a well-balanced, even structure. Unfortunately, many people do not maintain good posture, which means keeping the spine in a straight line.

Slouching when standing, leaning over a desk, and walking with your arms and head forward lead to an uneven spine and weakness in your back muscles. This puts a strain on all joints, including the hip and knee joints, as body weight is not distributed properly. Maintain a good posture at all times – head elevated, shoulders back, and spine straight.

See also: Posture defects in children – to treat or prevent?

1. Exercises

The knee joints are stabilized by the leg muscles, ligaments and tendons. Do exercises to strengthen your muscles, ligaments, and tendons all over your body, but be sure to include exercises that target your knees and support the muscles in your buttocks, torso, and legs. These include exercises such as wall squats and step-ups.

1. Correct lifting of heavy objects

Often times, people lift boxes, small children, and other loads incorrectly or try to lift a load that exceeds their capacity. Such attempts result in erosion of the cartilage in the knees or stressing of the supporting muscles in the back, hips or legs.

Always lift weights with your leg muscles without twisting your knees or body, adding stability and strength to your movement. Bend your knees, crouch down, lift the weight, and straighten your legs as you lift. Never twist your body when lifting to the right or left and ask for help in lifting extremely heavy objects.

See also: Don’t ruin your spine

1. Wearing appropriate shoes

Fashionable shoes are sometimes very bad for the knee joints. Heels in men’s or women’s shoes that are more than 2,5 cm in height throw the spine out of balance, force the calf muscles to strain, and put pressure on the ankles and knees. Wearing the wrong shoes can cause or worsen knee pain. You should also wear padded shoes or gel insoles when your job requires standing for long periods.

See also: Yes, you “work” on bunions. What habits and conditions increase their likelihood?

Prevention of injuries of the knee joint

The knee joints suffer injuries that include broken bones around the knee joint, sprains, soft tissue tears, and sprains. Knee joints can also injure themselves when people do things such as kneel on hard surfaces and damage the bursa that cushion tendons and ligaments. Bursitis can be very painful.

Taking precautions to prevent knee joint injuries and protecting the knee joint during activities that can damage it, such as running or jogging, can prevent some of the knee injuries that people often experience. Precautions can also help you avoid knee surgery.

Following suggestions for keeping your joints healthy also helps prevent knee injuries. Additional recommendations for preventing knee injuries include:

1. Avoid hitting and twisting the knee joints

Some activities are bad for the knees because they hit the knee joints. These include jogging or running and aerobics. Better to use an elliptical machine, walk or swim.

However, people who particularly like these activities are unlikely to stop doing them. If you participate, be sure to learn how to protect your knee joints while running by maintaining good posture, or how to do aerobics avoiding knee and hip rotation. When playing sports that involve jumping, learn to keep your joints in line when landing after a jump, which means your hips stay above your knees and your knees stay above your ankles. Wear cushioning shoes when exercising on your knees.

1. Taking care of strong muscles

Long-term standing, vigorous exercise, and sports are all activities that can lead to knee injuries. The key to preventing injury is keeping your hip muscles, legs, buttocks, and torso strong at all times through regular exercise, including strength training.

1. Don’t forget to warm up and stretch

Improve knee mobility and knee range of motion by stretching your hips, knees, and ankles before exercising, playing sports, or working where work will require a lot of strain on your knees. When the hips and ankles are tense, the knees are struck. Stretching the muscles on the front and back of your thighs reduces tendon stress, which in turn helps to relieve pressure on your knees.

See also: Stretching exercises for health

1. Wearing knee supports

Sometimes it is wise to wear knee supports, such as elastic compression sleeves, when doing contact sports or in case of knee pain due to arthritis. Orthotics can provide additional support for the joint.

1. Slowing down the aging process

Keeping your knees healthy and free from injury can prevent knee pain. Of course, natural aging can also lead to deterioration of the knee joint. Slowing the aging process of your knee joints can prevent the development of osteoarthritis, which is a condition related to wear and tear on your joint. To age as best as possible, eat a healthy diet, exercise a lot, maintain a healthy weight, sleep seven to eight hours each night, and enjoy time with friends and family. There are no shortcuts to keep your knees and the rest of your body healthy.

See also: The aging process can be reversed

1. Stop smoking

Smoking doubles the risk of joint disease, according to the Australian Medical Association. It also supports inflammation and may contribute to joint pain. If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis in particular, quitting smoking is a very smart move to consider.

This may surprise us, but smoking is also a risk factor for osteoporosis and fractures. Smoking can also make it difficult for bones to repair after a fracture has occurred.

See also: Smoking is a disease!

Knee joint and diet

What you eat affects bone health throughout your body, and your knees are no exception. Healthy food, bad food, and sometimes no food all play a role in how weak or strong your knee joints and bones become.

Food for the knee joints

Saying that you are what you eat has some meaning in relation to how our body uses food as fuel. The many bones, ligaments and cartilages in the knees require careful selection of the right nutrients in order for them to develop properly, perform their functions and remain strong as we age.

Food can be beneficial for us when it provides the right amounts of vitamins and minerals our knees need:

Calcium and vitamin D for joints

As much as 99 percent of our body’s calcium is found in the form of bones and teeth, but our body cannot make calcium and must get it from the food we eat. Calcium helps bones grow and strengthen, so it’s unfortunate – especially when treating a knee injury – that our body takes calcium from the bones when it is lacking the mineral for other purposes.

Calcium and vitamin D work together to keep your bones strong, as vitamin D must be present to help your body absorb calcium.

Make sure you are strengthening your knee bones with enough calcium and vitamin D and:

1. we consume dairy products, leafy greens, canned sardines and foods fortified with calcium.
2. we eat salmon, tuna, mackerel, mushrooms and foods enriched with vitamin D.
3. we spend time in the morning sun to absorb the UVB light, which turns into vitamin D.
4. we do not expose our skin to the dangerous midday sun for long periods to reduce skin damage.

Vitamin C and anti-inflammatory food for joints

We can help our body grow new cartilage and reduce joint pain by providing the body with enough vitamin C and anti-inflammatory foods. Our body needs vitamin C to produce collagen, a special protein found in cartilage. Anti-inflammatory foods have special properties that help reduce joint pain and the stiffness that is typical of damaged cartilage. Foods that provide vitamin C include citrus fruits, peppers, kiwi, and broccoli.

Foods with anti-inflammatory properties include:

1. Fruits and vegetables – They are rich in disease-fighting antioxidants that protect our bodies. Let’s try to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables of different colors.
2. Fresh or dried herbs and spices – turmeric, cumin, ginger, parsley, rosemary and basil are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds.
3. Plant-based proteins – Animal-based foods such as chicken and beef can promote inflammation. Plant proteins like legumes, tofu, and nuts help reduce inflammation with antioxidants, polyphenols, and phytoestrogens.
4. Healthy fats – Nuts, omega-3s, seeds, fatty fish, olive oil, and avocados in particular are excellent sources of anti-inflammatory unsaturated fats.

Food that harms the joints

Unfortunately, the joints and bones in the knees can suffer from the negative consequences of eating the wrong foods. Our joints experience arthritis and pain when we indulge in food that causes inflammation and also deprives the body of adequate nutrients.

Refined carbohydrates such as foods containing white flour, white rice, and sweet foods increase inflammation. We should also avoid foods containing saturated fats and trans fats, i.e. fast food and commercial pastries. Additional culprits are alcohol, salt, monosodium glutamate, and omega-6 fatty acids found in corn and sunflower oil.

Remember that in addition to causing arthritis and pain in the knee joints, these products also lack sufficient amounts of important vitamins and minerals. Often such deficiencies lead to malnutrition.

When it comes to the health of the knee joints, malnutrition can make it difficult for us to move, perform daily tasks, maintain good posture and make us prone to falls.

Poor diet and malnutrition also reduce your body’s ability to heal injuries to the bones, tissues, and cartilage in your knees. This is extremely important once the knee is injured and expected to heal properly.

See also: White rice may contribute to diabetes

Knee joint and exercises

Our knee joints are not just a round bone at the front of the leg. Our knee joint also consists of delicate, connective tissues that connect the leg bones and muscles together at the knee. Healthy knee joints allow us to play sports, run, jump or dive. However, healthy knee joints are also essential for routine activities such as getting in and out of bed, sitting up, getting up, using the toilet, and other important daily activities.

Regardless of age, we are never too young to take care of our knees, so it’s worth doing these simple exercises recommended by specialists to maintain healthy knee joints.

Walking on the joints

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise because it does not put unnecessary stress on the joints and is easy to perform. Walking also warms the muscles up for more intense exercise, ensuring they can support bones and joint tissue as you move. Experts recommend walking for a few minutes as a warm-up before training to avoid unnecessary stress on your joints.

Leg raise on the joints

A great exercise for people with delicate knees and low leg strength. This exercise can be done at home or in the gym. Lie on your back on a flat surface. Support your hips with a soft training mat. Bend one knee and place your foot flat on the floor. Extend the other leg straight without blocking the knee. Raise your extended leg up to the knee of the bent leg, and then lower it to the ground. Repeat about 15 times and then switch legs.

Hamstring Curls on the joints

Lie on your stomach, straighten your legs behind you, then bend your knees and bring your heels as close as possible to the hamstrings. Hold this position and then relax. Repeat up to 15 times, then swap legs. If you develop strong legs, you may be tempted to do this exercise with extra weight or with more repetitions, which will make the exercise more difficult.

Wall squats on the joints

If you are up for the challenge, try this exercise that uses your own body weight. Stand with your back to the wall, then bend your knees and slide down the wall (being your feet forward) until your thighs are parallel to the ground and you are seated. Hold this position for as long as you can and then relax. This exercise can be difficult for people without properly developed thigh or calf muscles, but it can significantly improve the health of your knee joints.

Do exercises for the knee joints work?

Exercises like the above are great for protecting important joints like your knees. Why does exercise support healthy joints? Strengthening the muscles around the knees makes the legs flexible and prevents injuries and other injuries. Muscles support our joints, thanks to which they remain healthy and intact for many years.

However, it should be added that some people may already suffer from too much pain, discomfort or movement limitations, which in turn makes it impossible to perform the above exercises. If we don’t feel these exercises are right for us, let’s talk to doctors who specialize in diagnosing and treating joint problems. Let’s make an appointment to learn more about how to protect your knee joints and what we can do about current joint problems such as pain and swelling.